Created by American filmmaker Merian C. Cooper, King Kong is one of the most recognizable movie characters of all time and has been featured in cartoons, books, comics, videogames, theme parks rides, and even a stage play. In his most iconic appearances, he is portrayed as a tragic antihero, often dying in the name of love. He will be seen next in the 2017 film “Skull Island.”
To get you ready for that film, here are some chest-beating facts about the greatest ape of all time, King Kong.
31. Good Call
The original name of the film was “Eighth Wonder” before being changed to “Kong,” and in one of the last acts by departing studio mogul David O. Selznick, was wisely renamed to “King Kong.”
30. Lights Out
When King Kong’s original lead Fay Wray died in 2004, they darkened the lights at the top of the Empire State Building in her honor.
29. Tall, Dark, and Hairy
When Wray was cast in the lead as Ann Darrow, director Merian Cooper told her she was going to have the “tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood. Naturally,” she said, “I thought of Clark Gable.”
28. No empty seat
When King Kong opened in March 1933, Radio City Music Hall and Roxy Theatre, with a combined capacity of 10,000, played the film to sold-out crowds.
27. Arachnophobes Beware
In the original King Kong, there was a scene where sailors, shaken from a log by the great ape, are devoured by giant spiders. Merian Cooper said he cut the scene because it slowed the film down. In the Peter Jackson remake, the spider scene is shown in full, dousing viewers in nightmare fuel and lighting them on fire.
26. Out of Proportion
King Kong was described as 50 feet tall, but his proportions kept changing depending on the scene. When he eats a native on Skull Island, he appears much bigger than he is, but when he scales the Empire State Building, he appears quite small compared to the skyscraper. For the latter scene, Kong claims it was just cold up there.
25. Not the Best Endorsement
King Kong was apparently one of Hitler’s favorite films. He was also a fan of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Mutiny on the Bounty,” so for a guy who was quite a big fan of Hollywood, a creative community formed mostly by Jewish migrants from Europe, he had a pretty weird way of showing his appreciation.
24. An Immaculate Conception
After the success of King Kong in 1933, Cooper and co-director Ernest Schoedsack were told to make a bigger and better sequel. They came up with the film “Son of Kong”, the story of a benign white ape who drowns to save some humans. However, given King Kong’s solitary nature and no sign of a female of the species, it begs the question as to where little Kong came from. Paging Maury Povich.
23. The Imitation Game
The success of King Kong resulted in a slew of knockoffs including Mighty Joe Young (1947), Konga (1961), The Mighty Gorga (1970), A*P*E (1976), and Queen Kong (1978).
22. Monster Mash
Although it never actually happened, there was a film planned in 1960 which pitted King Kong against Frankenstein. Presumably it was to be Frankenstein’s monster and not the mad scientist who would have been at even more of a physical disadvantage.
21. So Much Property Damage
King Kong faced off against Godzilla in a number of films, in which each of their bouts featuring guys in gorilla and lizard suits. The fights were basically giant wrestling matches resulting in the destruction of a number of small buildings. But the monster that took the biggest beating were the insurance companies.
20. Gorillanimation
Running from 1966-1969, King Kong was featured in a cartoon series called The King Kong Show where he was portrayed as a giant simian superhero. In 2016, Kong returned in animated form in a cartoon series created exclusively for Netflix where Kong plays a fugitive framed by an evil genius.
The King Kong Show, Universal Television
19. P.T. Barnum, Eat Your Heart Out
In the 1976 remake, producer Dino De Laurentiis convinced critics and audiences that he was filming the movie with a 40-ft animatronic Kong robot (that was built for $1.7 million) even though, in reality, most of the scenes were shot with makeup genius Rick Baker in a monkey suit. The film made $90 million worldwide on a $24 million budget and managed to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Getty Images
18. Never Forget
The 1976 King Kong movie was the only King Kong adaptation to feature the World Trade Center towers rather than the Empire State Building. Employees from the Empire State Building protested the choice to film at the World Trade Centre by picketing in monkey suits.
17. Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Gold
Meryl Streep was reportedly considered for the lead female role of the 1976 remake, but was deemed too unattractive by producer Dino De Laurentiis. The role went to Jessica Lange for which King Kong was her film debut. Meryl Streep was never heard from again.
16. Size Matters
The scene in the 1933 film where the giant gorilla pulls back a little of Ms. Wray’s clothing became the inspiration of for a strange 1974 BBC TV play entitled “Censored Scenes From King Kong” where the main character imagines those missing scenes containing some gorilla-lady sexy time which would be anatomically… inventive.
15. The Horror, the Horror
The 1933 version of King Kong has been ranked by Rotten Tomatoes as the greatest horror film of all time. And that’s without the scene where giant spiders eat everybody.
14. Gorillas + Sexy Women in Peril = $$$
It has been long-speculated that RKO green-lit King Kong because of the box office success of a film called “Ingagi” which implicitly depicted women having babies with gorillas that were more ape than human.
13. A Woman’s Touch
Despite having never written a screenplay before, co-director Ernest Schoedsack’s wife Ruth Rose was brought in to rewrite the 1933 script. Director Merian Cooper loved her changes so much, it was immediately approved for production.
12. Lion and Tigers and Apes, Oh My
The sound effects for 1933 Kong’s roar was created by mixing the recorded roars of zoo lions and tigers, and then playing them backwards slowly. Kong’s “endearing grunts” were created with Murray Spivack, the sound designer, grunting into a megaphone and playing it at low speed.
11. Building Backwards
Merian C. Cooper’s first vision for the 1933 film was that of a giant ape atop the world’s tallest building swatting at airplanes. With that image in mind, he worked backwards to develop the rest of the movie.
King Kong, RKO Pictures
10. "Laser"
The laserdisc version of the 1933 version is the first film to ever include an audio commentary paving the way for directors, actors, and producers to give their thoughts on their work that people rarely listen to.
Wikimedia Commons Windell Oskay
9. One Track Mind
Merian C. Cooper grew up next to an elevated train, the noise of which kept him awake at nights. This inspired him to create a scene where King Kong destroys an elevated train. Good thing he wasn’t kept awake at night by a screaming baby.
8. Method Acting
When filming the scene where Fay Wray was in the giant ape’s hand, the hand was attached to a crane and raised ten feet. The more she struggled, the looser the hand’s grip grew. Wray later said that her terror in those scenes was very real.
7. A Broken Finger
For the 1976 Kong, the filmmakers built giant hydraulic gorilla arms. The hands were six feet across and the arms weighed 1,650 lbs apiece. Upon completion, producer Dino De Laurentiis was invited onto set to witness a test. When he arrived, the mechanical arm extended towards him and the middle finger unfurled to flip him the bird. Then the arm broke and it was frozen, middle finger up, for a week.
6. Evolution
The 18-inch models used in the 1933 version of the film had metal joints and were covered by rubber musculature and rabbit fur. The 40 foot model used in the 1976 version was constructed with a 3.5 ton aluminum frame, covered with rubber, and 1,012 lbs of Argentinian horse tails. No animal products were required for the 2005 computer version. They just used them for fun.
Wikimedia Commons Biswarup Ganguly
5. Worst Massage Ever
In the 1976 film, King Kong caresses Dwan, the female lead. However, because the mechanical hands each weighed 1,650 lbs, it left actress Jessica Lange with a painfully pinched nerve in her neck. Good thing she didn’t opt for the spa package.
4. Wig Out
Jack Black had to wear a wig for the entire shoot on the 2005 Kong film because Peter Jackson was unhappy with his haircut.
3. Apted Pupils
Because there were no gorillas in any of the zoos in New Zealand for the 2005 Kong production team to study, Michael Apted saved the day by providing 20 hours of research footage he had shot for his 1988 film “Gorillas in the Mist.”
Thankfully, they'll have tons of awesome gorilla footage the upcoming film, like this incredible photo of a newborn gorilla at the Twycross Zoo:
Pixabay
2. A Real Fan
Peter Jackson owned quite a few props from the 1933 King Kong and used some of these items in his 2005 film. These included spears, a shield, drums, and a model triceratops.
The original triceratops model
1. Worth the Wait
In the 1933 version, the King Kong does not appear until 47 minutes into the film. In the 1976 version, it takes him 53 minutes to appear. In 2005, Kong doesn’t appear until 71 minutes in. Based on this trend, Kong won’t appear in the 2017 film Skull Island until after the end credits.
